DANCE PREVIEW: 'Riverdance' creators stepping to a new 'Heartbeat'

“Heartbeat of Home,” mixes Irish stepping with tango, flamenco, salsa and even hip-hop.

The creators of “Riverdance” have a new Irish dance extravaganza stepping into Boston next week – and you can be sure there’ll be a lot more than jigs and reels being performed on stage.

The show, “Heartbeat of Home,” mixes Irish stepping with tango, flamenco, salsa and even hip-hop. It promises to take audiences on a “journey of the imagination to a mythical place,” said co-creator Moya Doherty, adding: “Rhythms and dance are exchanged in ways that highlight the positive unifying energy among those cultures.”

Doherty and her husband, John McColgan changed the landscape of Irish step-dance 20 years ago when they created the blockbuster “Riverdance.”

“Heartbeat” debuted last October in Dublin and has traveled to China and Toronto before landing in the United States. Doherty said reaction to the show has been positive. “It’s been going really well. We’ve had a tremendous response with standing ovations every single night since the very first preview in Dublin,” said Doherty.

Still, she admits that it was hard to get others to believe in the show. “I think that John and I knew what we wanted to do very clearly, but it was difficult to convince others (investors and promoters) because they couldn’t see past what “Riverdance” was. So it took time, but we found a fantastic creative team of choreographers, writers and composers, and eventually everyone came to the concept,” said Doherty.

One of the major challenges to making this show work was coming up with right music to go with the concept of fusing multiple cultures. Doherty and McColgan hired Irish composer Brian Byrne who is known for his work in the film industry.

“He was asked to write a wide, broad, colorful range of musical styles. It goes from traditional Irish music to (what you might hear) outside a Havana street corner listening to a street band. And, it all works together. It’s wonderful; it’s a very big lush sound,” said Doherty.

The show also feature songs written by Joseph O’Connor (Sinead O’Connor’s brother). Choreographers David Bolger and John Carey worked to shape the various rhythms into dance movements.

But, as Doherty explains, the process never really ends. “You get (the show) up on its feet, and then you continue to reshape it. The final test is when you get the audience in. They tell you a lot.

And then, like a sculptor, you finely hone it. It’s intricate. With so many rhythms and dancers and so much energy, you can never leave anything to chance. Every second has to be in order,” said Doherty.

“Heartbeat of Home” also promises innovations in set design that include a wraparound screen, 16 projectors and animated art.

“It was what John (McColgan) wanted. In design everything has changed so much with new technology, and we are really testing the boundaries. So you have gently moving pictures and the sea rippling, the moon rising or even something more expansive. It works well and is visually quite powerful,” said Doherty.

Of course, the efforts of all these fantastic creators would be nothing without an equally impressive troupe of dancers. Doherty and McColgan realized that if they were going to fuse Irish dancing with other cultures, they needed to expand their call for dancers beyond the Emerald Isle.

“We put out the word on our website and within three weeks we had hundreds of applications. We had a judge’s choice and voting public’s choice. We took the top 10 from the judge’s panel and the top 10 from the voting public’s choice and flew them all to Dublin. (We had dancers) from Australia, Canada, Boston, Chicago, South America and the United Kingdom. They were all wonderful.”

Since the dancer’s average age is about 20, they have all grown up in a world that includes the style of Irish dance that “Riverdance” created.

“It didn’t exist before. Now the dancers are almost like professional athletes. And when you turn from an amateur to a professional everything gets better: nutrition, exercise, body shape and speed. The dancers were brilliant 20 years ago, but they’ve learned so much. Now they have these fabulous shaped arms and muscular bodies. People kind of apologize for saying it, but they’re stunning to look at, absolutely stunning.”

Occasionally (like when she is asked by a reporter), Doherty reflects on all the work that goes into producing a show like “Heartbeat of Home” and the life she leads.

“If you are in the creative industry, you never really leave it. It’s not like a normal job. In this journey (‘Heartbeat of Home’) it was very intense. You are always questioning if it is going to be OK and if you are hitting the right note. It’s challenging, and you risk getting criticized. It’s hard work, but I just enjoy what I do. I just love it.”